Microsoft Announced Its Layoffs All Wrong--Here's the Right Way to Do It

Chief executive of Communispond, a provider of communications training.

Well handled, a mass termination announcement can help a company earn credit for candor, articulate its values, and showcase its newfound strength. Poorly handled, it can worsen an already bad situation. The memo Stephen Elop of Microsoft sent out last week to tell 12,500 employees they would lose their jobs brought him and the company much criticism.

The message, meandering and layered with management-speak, ultimately got around to announcing the layoffs in paragraph 11. Elop would have done better following these five rules:

Do it quickly and completely. Make the announcement as soon as you make the decision to cut staff. If you don't, you risk letting others frame the debate.Tell everything that Legal allows, clearly and concisely, without omitting important facts that will be harder to address later.

Don't make the announcement just before the year-end holidays. Don't make it late on Friday as you're leaving the office. And don't make it shortly after announcing a bonus for the chief executive.

Make it personal: The head of a small company should address employees face-to-face. In larger businesses the announcement has to be written. Don't try to address everyone who’s affected (employees, the investment community, media, etc.) with a single announcement. Make concurrent announcements that present the news from each group's different perspective, all with consistent information, of course.

Reinforce the message by arranging for designated leaders to use your full array of social media to interact with everyone affected—here, too, with total consistency.

Tell it straight: The announcement should describe the market conditions that necessitated the layoffs in a way everyone in the workforce will understand. If you don’t make the rationale clear, your employees may feel the decision was unnecessary and arbitrary. Technology company employees generally understand why businesses go through rough patches. Employees in older, more conventional businesses may need more convincing. A management that employees generally trust will find explaining easier than would others.

Don’t lay blame. Don’t try to beautify what can’t be justified. Speak in the language of home and hearth rather than with buzzwords. Use active rather than passive verbs; instead of saying, “These objectives weren’t met,” say, “We didn’t meet these objectives,” to be more straightforward.

In the memo that brought him scorn for burying the news, Elop commented, “We will focus on delivering great breakthrough products in alignment with major milestones” and “We plan to select the appropriate business model approach for our sales markets while continuing to offer our products in all markets with a strong focus on maintaining business continuity.” He would have done better being brief and specific.

Show optimism about the future—but don't make promises you can't keep.

Show your humanity: For some employees, losing a job is like losing a loved one. Show that you understand the human costs of a mass termination. Your expression of concern may be more influential than the cold facts of the situation.

Keep in mind that the terminated employees are going to apply to work for your competitors. A bitter employee may reveal more information than you’d want given and can even damage your company’s IT system before leaving. Your announcement must appeal to the heart as well as the head. Express your hurt, but don’t give the impression that you hurt as much as those who were terminated.

Handle tough questions. Be ready to be confronted. Anticipate the kinds of questions you'll get from different groups of people. Develop concise, persuasive answers to them, but don't go on autopilot when delivering the answers. Meet your questioners’ eyes. Accommodate their levels of understanding.

Finally, if you are provoked, don’t lose your equanimity. Remember that every point of view is reasonable to the person who holds it.